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Clear Channel Communications () is a media company based in the United States Of America . Clear Channel, founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs , wields considerable influence in radio broadcasting, concert promotion and hosting, and fixed advertising in the United States through its subsidiaries. The largest U.S. radio station owner owns over 1,100 full-power AM , FM , and Shortwave Radio Station s, eleven satellite radio channels on XM Satellite Radio , and more than 30 Television Station s in the United States, among other media outlets in other countries. The present head of the company is Mark Mays , and its headquarters is located in San Antonio, Texas . The term " Clear Channel " comes from AM broadcasting, referring to a channel (frequency) on which only one station transmits. In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting history, "clear channel" (or Class I-A ) stations had exclusive rights to their frequencies throughout most of the continent at night, when AM stations travel very far due to Skywave . WOAI in San Antonio, one of Clear Channel's first acquisitions, was such a station. HISTORY Clear Channel Communications purchased its first FM station in San Antonio in 1972. The company purchased the second "clear channel" AM station WOAI in 1975. In 1986, the company purchased its first stations outside of San Antonio. In 1992, the U.S. Congress relaxed radio ownership rules slightly, allowing the company to acquire more than 2 stations per market. By 1995, Clear Channel owned 43 radio stations and 16 television stations. In 1996, the Telecommunications Act Of 1996 became law. This act deregulated media ownership, allowing a company to own more stations than previously. Clear Channel went on a buying spree, purchasing more than 70 other media companies, plus individual stations. In a few cases, following purchase of a competitor, Clear Channel was forced to divest some of its stations, as it were above the legal thresholds in some cities. In 2005 , the courts ruled that Clear Channel must also divest itself of some " Border Blaster " radio stations in international border cities. One such instance was that of the nation's first Alternative Rock radio station, 91X in Tijuana, Baja California / San Diego . BUSINESSES Clear Channel has purchased interest in, or outright acquired, companies in a number of media or advertising related industries. This is not an exhaustive list. Radio With 1,200 stations, Clear Channel is the largest radio station group owner in the United States, both by number of stations and by revenue. According to BIA Financial Network, Clear Channel Radio recorded more than $3.5 billion in revenues in 2005 , more than $1 billion more than the number-two group owner, CBS Radio .2 Clear Channel has purchased stations from or acquired the following radio companies:
Outdoor advertising in Toronto, owned by Clear Channel.]]
Television The first television station Clear Channel purchased was WPMI in Mobile, Alabama in 1988. It now owns more than 40 additional stations, a few of which are independent (non-network affiliates). The company has agreed to sell all its television stations to Providence Equity Partners for $1.2 billion. Live events On December 21, 2005, Clear Channel completed the spin-off of was also included in the spin off. News and information
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Vertical Real Estate In 2003, Clear Channel created the Vertical Real Estate division and hired Scott Quitadamo to promote its tower portfolio. Clear Channel owns and operates approximately 1,500 broadcast transmission towers across the US. many of which are available for co-location by third parties such as cellular and PCS companies, wireless internet, fixed wireless, and other broadcasters. CRITICISM OF CLEAR CHANNEL Market share In the late 1990s and early 2000s , the company became an object of persistent criticism. Critics claim that it has abused its market position and has operated in an unethical manner. FCC regulations were relaxed following the Telecommunications Act Of 1996 , allowing companies to own far more radio signals than before. After spending about $30 billion, Clear Channel owned over 1,200 stations nationwide, including as many as seven stations in certain markets. Competitors and listeners complained, but so far the company has been able to hold on to all of its stations after divesting a few following the acquisition of AMFM, although over 500 stations have since been sold or are in the process of being sold since the company announced plans to become privately held. Other controversies have included changing many syndicated shows, most notably Rush Limbaugh , from syndication to "network" status by flipping from well-known stronger news-talk stations to much weaker stations which are owned by Clear Channel, thereby making the show a "network" show instead of being syndicated. Repeat songs and commercials The company has been criticized for the multiple commercial breaks on its stations, and in response, it began its "Less Is More" campaign in November 2004. Now, Clear Channel radio stations have the one of the lowest commercial per minute total in the business. In contrast, however, the company recently won in an arbitration dispute with XM Satellite Radio over the right to air commercials on its XM music channels. Another criticism cast upon the company is tendency to change the Format of its radio stations without notice. However, this is a widespread practice throughout the radio industry and is not specific to Clear Channel. September 11, 2001 Following the 's " Free Fallin' " and Louis Armstrong 's " What A Wonderful World ". Banning music and political ramifications In March of 2003, Natalie Maines , the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks said to an English concert audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas," upsetting many music fans and politicians in the United States. Thinking the Dixie Chicks were now a Pariah and thus unmarketable, all of the country music stations owned by 2 Atlanta-based companies, Cumulus Media and Cox Radio were told to stop playing their music. There is gossip that Clear Channel also may have directed their stations to do so, but the company states this was solely the work of local station managers, DJs, and angry fans. Some critics of Clear Channel, including the editors of ''Rock and Rap Confidential,'' say otherwise, claiming that Clear Channel executives, in a bid to gain support for various policies they were pushing in Washington, instigated the boycott among its country music stations to send a message to other musicians that criticizing President George Bush's administration could hurt their careers through reduced airplay, etc. Though, there is no evidence that was the case. Live music recordings Indecency zero tolerance During the nationwide crackdown on indecent material following the 2004 Super Bowl , Clear Channel launched a "self-policing" effort, and declared that there would be no "indecent" material allowed on the air. This led to the company's dismissal of several of their own employees, including popular and high-profile hosts in a number of cities. Free-speech advocates cried foul. During this same period, Howard Stern was dropped from six Clear Channel owned stations in Florida, California, Pennsylvania, New York and Kentucky. By mid-year, rival Viacom (through radio division Infinity Broadcasting ) brought Stern's show back to those six markets. In June, 2004, Viacom/Infinity Broadcasting Inc./One Twelve Inc. filed a $10 million lawsuit against Clear Channel for breaking of contracts and non-payment of licensing fees due to the dropping of Stern's show. Viacom was Howard Stern's employer at the time, though he has since moved to Sirius Satellite Radio ). The following July, Clear Channel filed a countersuit of $3 million. Meanwhile, Clear Channel has continued to battle salacious content on the airwaves. Every Programming employee is required to take online training and testing to assure they understand the difference between indecency and obscenity. Concerts and promotions Clear Channel has settled a lawsuit with a Denver, Colorado concert promoter, Nobody In Particular Presents (NIPP). In the lawsuit, NIPP alleged that Clear Channel halted airplay on its local stations for (NIPP) clients, and that Clear Channel would not allow NIPP to publicize its concerts on the air. The lawsuit was settled in 2004 with no monetary consideration, but Clear Channel has new rules regarding local concert promotion in Denver. In 2002, Clear Channel was sued by the US Justice Department for not allowing people with Diabetes to bring medically necessary supplies, including Syringe s used for Insulin , into concert venues. Clear Channel changed their policy shortly afterward. In 2004, Clear Channel was sued by a San Francisco, California man for charging a mandatory parking fee on every ticket sold for a venue, whether the person purchasing the ticket was driving alone, car-pooling, or using public transportation. This is still unresolved. Women's health advocates heavily criticized a contest ("Breast Christmas Ever") that went to air in Tampa, Jacksonville, St. Louis, and Detroit during late 2004 via Clear Channel in America. Contest prizes included Breast Enlargement surgery but provided for no legal recourse in the event of malpractice. Clear Channel distanced itself from the contest, with spokesperson Jennifer Gery stating, "It's not a Clear Channel-sponsored contest; we empower our local manager to make programming decisions." This statement was met with some skepticism. Editor of 'The Radio Wave', Ian MacRae's responded, "Sure, but the concept was obviously floated to stations by the network Channel in the first place. Either that or it's a hell of a coincidence that four Clear Channels thought of it at the same time." Stations on "auto-pilot" Clear Channel, like other broadcasters both large and small, utilizes technology (known as Prophet ) that allows a DJ from anywhere in the country to sound as if he or she is broadcasting from anywhere else in the country, on any other station. A technological outgrowth of earlier, tape-based automation systems dating back to the 1960s, this is called Voice-tracking , and some smaller market stations are partially or completely staffed by these "cyber-jocks" who may have never visited the town they are broadcasting in. In some instances this allows the corporation to eliminate or reduce on-air staff positions. It's been stated that Clear Channel maintains a majority of its staff in hourly-paid, part-time positions. This may be the case in some smaller markets. However, in medium to larger markets, full-time announcers staff each station . They may also voice track several other cities. Not all radio stations use Prophet; there are other systems available for broadcasters, especially when satellite-based programming is used. Rejection of anti-war billboard In 2004, Project Billboard , a non-profit Democratic political advocacy group, filed a breach of contract suit against Clear Channel for the rejection by its outdoor advertising division of a billboard ad against the War In Iraq . The ad, intended for a 40-foot billboard Clear Channel manages in Times Square , was to have the slogan, "Democracy is best taught by example, not by war," along with a red, white, and blue cartoon image of a bomb. Clear Channel's contract with Project Billboard only allowed the company to reject ads that were illegal or contrary to public morals; Clear Channel claimed that the image of the bomb was insensitive in New York City , the site of the most devastating of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Project Billboard claimed that Clear Channel's rejection was instead for purely political reasons. Clear Channel settled the suit by agreeing to an alternative featuring an image of a peace dove instead of a bomb. Censorship Clear Channel has been criticized for censoring opinions critical of George W. Bush and other Republicans . Clear Channel-owned KTVX was the only local television station which refused to air the paid political message of Cindy Sheehan against the war in Iraq .5 Some Utahns consider this to be another act of censorship of grass-roots free speech, a charge which appears to be countered by the fact that Clear Channel changed many of its AM talk/music stations to the Progressive Talk format (featuring the Air America Radio Network ) which is highly critical of President Bush . However, Clear Channel has begun flipping some of their progressive stations to other formats. Official response to controversy Clear Channel officially denies most of these allegations. An article titled '' Know the Facts '' on its corporate website addresses many of these concerns. It also mentions a radio company once owned by Viacom . In its previous corporate structure, Viacom had purchased the Broadcast Interests Of Westinghouse , another major defense contractor. However, Viacom has split up, and today the company, called CBS Radio , is part of CBS Corporation . CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Current members of the , B.J.(Red) McCombs , Phyllis Riggins, Theodore Strauss, J.C. Watts , and John H. Williams . Tom Hicks and Vernon Jordan were formerly members of Clear Channel's board of directors. Jordan was a close friend and advisor to President Bill Clinton and was accused of lying to investigators during the investigations into perjury and obstruction of justice charges against Clinton. Hicks, Clear Channel's former vice-chairman, is a past donor to George W. Bush 's political campaigns and a close associate of the Bush family. Hicks is the founder of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst , the Private-equity firm which funded many of Clear Channel's antecedent companies, including most significantly CapStar and Chancellor Media. Top executives ;; also a director of Live Nation ;; also vice chairman of Live Nation ;Randall Mays: son of Lowry Mays, executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer ; also chairman of Live Nation ; John Hogan : chief executive officer of Clear Channel radio PROGRAMMING ON CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO STATIONS Premiere Radio Networks, the syndication wing of Clear Channel, carries many program hosts of various political ideologies. The network distributes a variety of programs to both Clear Channel-owned and non-Clear Channel-owned stations. See Also: Premiere Radio Networks Not all programming heard on Clear Channel's radio stations are produced in house; however, most of Clear Channel's stations share many similarities to each other in branding and programming. Urban stations Stations that carry programming catering to black Americans are a big part of many Clear Channel clusters, particularly Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit. In many clusters Clear Channel has two or more such stations. About half the Urban stations focus on Rap and Hip Hop along with younger R & B sounds. The other half blend some younger R & B along with some Soul from the 70's 80's, and 90's along with some current product. Some of the Hip Hop based Urban stations report as Rhythmic Top 40 stations rather than Urban stations because these stations also have some appeal to white and Hispanic listeners. In a cluster with multiple urban stations owned by Clear Channel, one is focused on Rap while the other is focused on Soul. Examples include Philadelphia, with WUSL 's focus on hip hop while WDAS-FM focuses on Soul, and Chicago, where WGCI focuses on rap while WVAZ is focused on Soul. News talk stations News talk stations owned by Clear Channel usually have a standard slate of hosts. The morning show is usually local, with the rest of the day is filled by Glenn Beck Program , The Rush Limbaugh Show , The Sean Hannity Show (by agreement with ABC Radio ), The Savage Nation , and Coast To Coast AM unless another station in that particular market holds the rights to that particular show. Dave Ramsey is often substituted if this is the case. Clear Channel has begun syndicating its Pittsburgh morning show host Jim Quinn on other talk stations in morning drive, primarily on smaller stations on the East Coast. Sports talk stations Most sports talk stations owned by Clear Channel are affiliated with Fox Sports Radio and carry The Jim Rome Show . They are usually branded either ''Fox Sports'' or ''The Sports Animal''. Adult Standards Most of Clear Channel's adult standards stations are turnkey operations, running a direct feed of the Music Of Your Life network. These stations have no local jocks or Web sites. Adult Contemporary Clear Channel's soft adult contemporary stations are usually branded as either "Lite FM" or "Sunny." Evenings are usually filled with Delilah , unless that show is already aired by another station, in which case the John Tesh Radio Show is often substituted. Hot adult contemporary stations are usually branded as "Mix." Some Hot AC stations lean modern rock while others lean toward adult rock. A few lean rhythmic and these hot adult contemporary stations often carry Wake Up With Whoopi in morning drive. Contemporary hit radio Clear Channel's CHR stations are usually branded as KISS FM . But some have other branding. Many run in house syndicated morning shows, especially in smaller markets. Country music Country music stations owned by Clear Channel usually carry Blair Garner in overnights (and occasionally evenings), and many (although not all) carry Big D And Bubba in morning drive. There is no unified branding of Clear Channel's country stations. Oldies and Classic Hits Clear Channel's Oldies station consists largely of FM stations with some AM station. Nearly all of the FM stations play oldies spanning from 1964 to 1975, with a 500 song active playlist split nearly half 1960's and half 1970's. The playlist also includes approximately a dozen pre 1964 tracks and around 50 songs from the late 70's and early 80's. These stations generally have a few local live announcers; much of the time these stations are voicetracked either locally or from another market. Most run syndicated programming on weekends, such as 's Classic Top 40. The AM oldies stations' playlists skew somewhat older and span from 1955 to about 1975. About 60 percent of the time they play 1964 to 1969 oldies, 20 percent pre 1964 oldies, and 20 percent music from the 1970s. Some of these also run Dick Bartley or Mike Harvey on Saturday nights. Some of the AM stations also run adult standards several hours on the weekend as well as limited specialized programming focusing on the pre 1964 era. Most of the AM stations are in smaller markets. Rock These stations tend to play a blend of new rock and harder classic rock. Some carry Nights With Alice Cooper in the evenings. These stations tend to be live during the day and voicetracked at night. Some stations run Rock Line with Bob Coburn and/or Little Steven's Underground Garage as well. Clear Channel classic rock stations are usually branded as " The Fox ." Often, they will carry Bob And Tom in morning drive. Spanish In a few markets Clear Channel has an FM station carrying Hispanic programming full-time. In some markets the format is a Contemporary Tropical format while in others the format carried is more of a Mexican format. In a few markets a Clear Channel FM station carries a rap based Spanish format known as Hurban , which blends Spanish dance music with R & B hits as well as some Hip Hop Religious In a few markets, Clear Channel has a religious station on the AM band. Some of these sell blocks of time to outside organizations and have no local shows at all except where local churches buy time. These are formatted similarly to Salem Media stations. The other type of religious format Clear Channel uses on AM in a few markets is a Gospel music based format. On these stations Gospel Music appealing to black Americans airs most of the time along with some block programming sold to religious groups. These stations are often programmed as urban stations that happen to be religious. CLEAR CHANNEL SALE On Friday, November 17, 2006, Clear Channel announced that it was going Private and selling off almost one-third of its radio assets, according to the Washington Post and DHM. The buyers, led by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, agreed to pay $26.7 billion for the company. In a separate transaction also announced on November 16, 2006, Clear Channel said it would seek buyers for all of its television stations and 539 of its smaller radio stations, presumably because the private-equity buyers are not interested in owning television or small-market radio. Over a hundred stations have already been assigned to Aloha Station Trust, LLC upon the consummation of the merger. FAMOUS PEOPLE MANAGED BY CLEAR CHANNEL OR SUBSIDIARIES Music promoted by Clear Channel or subsidiaries: U2 , System Of A Down , Antony And The Johnsons , Mötley Crüe , David Gray , LCD Soundsystem , The Prodigy , Rod Stewart , Guns N' Roses , Duran Duran , Feeder , Depeche Mode , Bullet For My Valentine . FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES Australia
New Zealand SEE ALSO
REFERENCES # Eric Boehlert, ''Radio's big bully'' , salon.com, April 30, 2001 # Eric Boehlert, ''Tough company'' , salon.com, May 30, 2001 # ''Group sues over anti-war billboard,'' CNN, July 12, 2004 # Salon.com article on Clear Channel EXTERNAL LINKS
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